11/26/2013

Here is what Ally’s commercial kitchen and production line look like. Her famous mustard sauce…in four flavors…is in the making. You can determine the differences below…plain smooth, “the kind with seeds”, jalapeno and horseradish flavors. They are all delicious and essentially taste the same with a defined and distinguished tang.

Here’s a refrigerator filled with finished product, Ally’s Prairie Mustard, and already sold and delivered.

She makes it year round but the big demand is over Thanksgiving and Christmas as it is most particularly delicious on ham and turkey.

It makes dull deviled eggs come alive if you use a little mustard sauce in them. It’s great when baking or broiling fresh salmon…or a pork tenderloin roast. Hamburgers and sandwiches are better when slathered with her mustard.

It’s featured on the menu at Ad Astra in Salina.

She’ll be delivering more after Thanksgiving and through Christmas so give her a call if you want to get on the list. It makes wonderful hostess gifts if you’re invited out for the holidays and to send home with family and friends after the holidays.

Those living in or near Ellsworth can visit her farm 5 miles south of town and pick up your orders. She makes periodic deliveries to Salina.

11/24/2013

1) If Republicans are so fiscally responsible, why was President Eisenhower (in the 1950′s) the last Republican president to balance the budget?

2) If President Reagan was such a fiscally conservative hero, why did he quadruple our national debt during his eight years in the White House?

3) If tax breaks are the main driving force behind job creation, how would we create jobs once tax rates were reduced to practically zero?

4) If socialized health care is so awful, why does every country that leads the world in life expectancy have socialized health care?

5) If you support the freedom of religion (as per our Constitution), and my church recognizes gay marriage, isn’t your support for the banning of same-sex marriage an attack on my religion’s First Amendment rights?

6) What’s more realistic? 1) That an entire region of the United States that supported slavery in the late-1800′s and support segregation in the 1950′s and 60′s suddenly stopped being racist, or 2) The racist southern Democrats in the south became Republicans during the 50′s and 60′s when the Republican party shifted toward an idea called the “Southern Strategy,” where the GOP appealed to the racism in southern whites who didn’t like African Americans voting for Democrats.

7) If taxes are at some of their lowest levels in history, and the wealthiest in this country are richer than ever, why hasn’t the growth in the wealth of the middle class matched that of the top 2%?

8) If our Founding Fathers wanted this nation to be based on Christianity, why don’t the words “Christian” or “Christianity” appear even once in our Constitution?

9) If a Republican president reduced massive job losses in the midst of the worst recession in nearly a century by more than 50% in his first 4 months in office; presided over 44 consecutive months of private-sector job growth creating nearly 8 million jobs; killed Osama bin Ladin; saw stock markets reach all-time highs; saved the American auto industry; increased domestic oil production to highs not seen since the late-90′s and championed the largest year-to-year deficit reductions since World War II, would your party not be calling him a hero and a legend?

10) If Jesus spent his life helping the poor and the needy, how does it make sense that a party which claims to be for “Christian values” continues to cut funding for programs that help the poor and the needy?

11/22/2013

A recent study of childhood poverty in Kansas has revealed that nearly a quarter of the state’s children lived in poverty in 2012 - an increase of more than 2 percent from 2011 and more than 5 percent from 2008.

In the simplest terms, it means that nearly one in four children lives in a home that struggles to make ends meet, struggles to buy enough food or medicine, and most likely relies on public assistance to fill the gaps. It also means that almost a quarter of the state’s children are at this very moment learning the hopelessness of a life in poverty, the type of hopelessness that kills dreams, drains ambition and injures a child’s ability to learn, grow and prosper.

And while Kansas’ ruling class has redoubled its efforts to create policies that would force the state’s poor to work and free them from the bondage of a safety net, this quarter of the state’s children languish as they move toward adulthood. Children in poverty tend to become adults in poverty, who in turn have children in poverty, who also become adults in poverty and again have children in poverty. The destructive cycle continues and grows until it erodes the wealth of a community, or a state, as more of its people accept the fate of lifelong poverty.

For some it might bring comfort to condemn a child’s parents for their poor choices, their selfish and irresponsible behavior or a sense of entitlement that diminishes the freedom found in work. But judgment doesn’t solve the problem, and it doesn’t restore the promise of a child’s future. A child in poverty has committed no crime, made no poor choices and has not chosen a life of idleness. A child in poverty is simply a child who had the misfortune to not be born wealthy.

While children can’t choose how they’re born, Kansans can choose whether they will look the other way as the next generation of children is left to fallow.

Any Kansan who believes that a child - regardless of birthright - deserves a fighting chance at success should demand attention to the abysmal failure. Likewise, any Kansan who fears a growing number of people comfortable with and expectant of a lifetime of poverty should recognize this measurement as a warning of an issue that, left untended, will continue to grow and fester until it becomes unmanageable and irreversible.

11/21/2013

Our Thai chef, left, explains some of the dinner items we were going to experience during our International Dinner night at the Korean Restaurant in Salina. The carvings from fruit that are shown above were given to participants in the dinner.

A few of the 50 people who were there for the Thai dinner…waiting for others to arrive and hear the tales of Thai cooking.

Our friends and table mates..

Ally and I enjoyed the Thai food…probably not as much as I did the Indian dinner, but it was still excellent and fun to be with others who enjoy good food.

Menu:

Appetizers of deep fried vegetable spring roll with sweet & sour sauce and Chicken Satay with peanut sauce. The sauces were both terrific.

Main course
Shrimp Pad Thai with rice noodles, bean sprouts, green onions, carrots, red onions, and tofu.
Beef Red Curry with red curry paste, eggplant, Asian squash, Thai basil, bell pepper and served with rice.
Dessert was tapioca pudding with Asian squash. The last to arrive was Thai tea which was much too sweet for me.

If you haven’t been to the Korean Restaurant for lunch, you might want to give it a try. You can see what they are serving on a daily basis if you check their face book page, Seoul USA Korean Restaurant, and where you can find the location and hours of service. The food is very good and everything is fresh and made from scratch.
Thanks for tuning in…

11/17/2010
DO IT THE CHEZ PANISSE WAY AND BRINE YOUR TURKEY
I posted this Nov. 17, 2010 and it’s worth repeating.

Ryon Carey got this recipe from his friend Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse. Chez Panisse is a Berkeley, California restaurant known as the birthplace of California cuisine, a style credited to its co-founder, Alice Waters.

The restaurant is located in the north Berkeley neighborhood known locally as the “Gourmet ghetto”. Chez Panisse has been listed by Restaurant magazine from 2006 to 2008 as one of the top fifty restaurants in the world. In 2006 and 2007, Michelin awarded the restaurant a one-star rating in its guide to San Francisco Bay Area dining.

The best turkeys I’ve ever eaten were ones that I’ve soaked in brine as they are exceptionally moist and juicy. My recipe is much simpler than this and even though it produces a similar product, it lacks the full flavor of this recipe. If you’ve never brined a turkey before baking it, you might want to give it a try. You need to keep it cold while it is in the brine.

For brining, start with a fresh turkey or a completely thawed turkey that is not basted or self-basted. If you can find a homegrown, free-range, fresh heritage turkey, so much the better.

Place water in non-reactive container, add all ingredients and stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Put turkey in brine for 24 hours, completely submerged. Remove bird, rinse well and drain. Pat dry. Roast bird for 20 minutes per lb. or until juices run clear and turkey is tender.

You can place a frozen turkey in the cold brine and let it thaw. Don’t brine the giblets. A fresh turkey will keep for 28 days in a refrigerator at 40 degrees or lower (which is much colder than most household refrigerators). The trick is to find out how many days it was refrigerated before you bought it. Remove the packaging from a fresh turkey, remove giblets, then re-wrap and freeze the turkey. Place turkey in brine to thaw for 24 hours before the big day.

11/20/2013

Since moving to Salina a year ago this month, I’ve had to reestablish myself with “new providers”… pharmacist, internist, podiatrist, dentist, etc. It is not easy. The only one I could keep from my former life was my ophthalmologist, Linda Lawrence. Even though I had been a patient of some of the others, it hadn’t been within the last 4 years, so I was considered a “new” patient and that door is hard to open.

Coupled with a great deal of determination and perseverance, I prevailed on several fronts and made my way through the front door of the doctors I wanted. Small miracle.

Today I had a wonderful feeling that I was back in my small town again, where life was less complicated. That is not to say life here at the Palace isn’t a breeze as it is.

To back track a bit, I have long dealt with Cleland Pharmacy in Wakeeney for my drugs. They’ve had the best prices and offered the best service I could find anywhere close to home. That hasn’t changed; however, in recent months I’ve had to find a new provider for diabetic test strips that Clelands, and all other pharmacies, are now not allowed to deliver. Medicare requires you pick them up at the pharmacy and since Wakeeney is a good haul from here, I went to B&K Pharmacy for them, since at that time they were located closest to the Palace.

I gave them all the information they needed, the head nurse here also gave them information they requested and my internist’s nurse gave them more information they seemed to need. This involved many phone calls and days that turned into weeks. I waited over two weeks for them to call to inform me my prescription was ready for me. Finally, I went to the pharmacy to check on my order and found they knew nothing about it. They had no record at all of the phone calls or the order. Incredible.

I knew I’d have to start over with the entire procedure. In the meantime, Key Rexall had relocated about a mile west of the Palace and I decided to try them as I was pretty torqued with B&K. I called and explained my dilemma to Pat who said she’d get back to me in an hour. She did, my order was filled and would I like to come get it or have it delivered? Zounds. That really impressed me.

I bought a shower chair from B&K in February, the best they had to offer. It has proceeded to rust from the inside which made me wonder about its structural integrity since I sit on it ever day when showering. It was also ruining the new shower that was just installed in my apartment and that torqued me.

I called B&K to see what they would do about it and the end result was “nothing”, but we’ll give you the name of the manufacturer to contact. Well, I did, and Ernie at Invacare said they would make the product good, but after more calls to B&K I could see they weren’t going to help me out. I didn’t want another chair that would rust, and that’s all they offered.

So, I called Pat at Key Rexall yesterday and told her of my problem. She said she’d get back with me today. She did. She is refunding my money for the rusty chair that I didn’t even buy from them and arranged to get me a better all-plastic chair as a replacement…for only a small difference in price. Not only that, they will assemble the chair and deliver it to me for their standard delivery price of $1.38 plus tax.

I still get my drugs from Cleland’s, but when Jim retires, I’ll move all my business to Key Rexall. In the meantime, anything I need, they are my “look to” store.

If you like fruit cake (now, don’t laugh), Key Rexall has for many years carried a fruit cake that is the best ever. It has NO citron. It’s made at Jink’s Bakery in Columbus KS and contains among other things, real butter, cherries, pineapple and tons of pecans. I learned of it through Marci Penner’s Kansas Sampler Foundation Christmas list. HOLIDAY SHOPPING LIST #1 for 2013. Order Kansas with one click!

11/13/2013

Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday. Mamo Maggie, as she was known to her grandchildren and very beloved by them, was born 114 years ago. Although she died 50 years ago, she has continued to be in a special place in my thoughts.

11/7/2013

Life around here is just a bevy of activity…well, perhaps it is for those who can navigate faster than a snail’s pace. If you get stuck behind some inmates who barely move, it almost incites road rage. It is exasperating some times to try to get anywhere when “Tim Conway” is ahead of you. You can’t actually detect any movement at all. But…everyone is patient while knowing their time for pokiness is coming.

Tuesday in Art Discovery some of us gathered to make autumn leaf bowls. Here is my finished product:

A better picture would have been one of all of us covered with glue. We started out with an inflated balloon (that lost air during the process) that we glued to a styrofoam bowl. Styrofoam, as ‘most’ people know, is 98% air so it didn’t serve as a weight to hold the balloon in place.

We took the colorful leaves and slathered both sides with glue and placed them on the balloon. Soon the weight of the leaves and glue were too much for the balloon and the mass just slid off the balloon, some to the floor.

So we started over again which wasn’t too difficult since by then we were also slathered in glue. Some gave up in desperation and sheer uncontrollable nervousness over the project.

Most of us didn’t have anything to do with our bowls as they wouldn’t hold anything but a mass of cotton balls. Doris made a beautiful bowl and she has it in her room. I also have mine displayed but if you have use for another hat, here it is. There aren’t too many of them at the Palace so I think they will soon gain in value, which is also a talking point.

Ally came by yesterday and we went to Schlotzsky’s for lunch…soup and a French dip sandwich on sour dough. It’s about the best place for such things. Brit always loved eating there.

We stopped by the Korean Restaurant on the way home to pay for the upcoming Thai dinner on the 18thand ran into the Headricks. Terry was working on his 4th bowl of egg drop soup that Joomi had made. Had we known it was egg drop soup day, Ally and I would have gone too.

11/5/2013

Pictured here are a few of the 44 people who attended the Indian dinner prepared by Tasneem Ahmad. It was excellent from start to finish. Some of us take our own libations. You have to be a customer of the Korean Restaurant to make the list for their International Dinners. Tell the Bobbetts you want to be on the list and they will contact you by email. It generally costs $25 per person and you pay in advance in order to have one of the 44 spots.

Joomi and Tim Bobbett helping with the preparations for the International Dinner. They are the owners of the Korean Restaurant in Salina. Stop by for lunch, early dinner or carry out. You won’t be disappointed.

Tasneem and her kitchen crew spent two days preparing our meal. Scroll down to other blog entries for the menu. It could not have been better.

Here are some of the silent auction gifts that helped raise money for the Palace.

The lines to the soup, relishes and pie were manageable and flowed easily. The only people I recognize in this picture are Dorothy Carmichael (far left behind serving pie and my neighbor in the “hood”) , Fern McCall in the green and, Karen Larsen, activities director serving across the table from Fern. The photos were all taken by Kim Fair, Marketing Director at the Palace. Call Kim if you are interested in learning more about life in the Palace. Her number is 785.825.1366.

Here is part of our “pie committee” for the soup supper…Pete Peterson (left) and Dale Anderson. This team broke two of the pie markers, like Pete is holding, and generally kept track of the pies as only men would do. They were lots of fun to work with. That must be a gooseberry pie Dale has laid claim to. Gooseberry is the favorite among many of the inmates here.

Here’s the most efficient team for the annual supper preparations, so we think. Ruby McBee and I were charged with removing the cellophane from over 150 Marcon pies then returning the label to the pie for individual marking and distribution. We were one hot team. Ruby and I were neighbors when I lived on the 4th floor.